Piranhas fly over Bowning

The
constant distraction of helicopters whirring in and out of Joe O’Connor Park
did little to hamper the Golf Club in its first game of 2013.

Playing
just across the way, at Victoria Park, the Bowning Buffaloes were dominated by
the top side, which are once again showing ominous form at the right time of
the season.

The
Piranhas lost the toss, and Bowning decided to bat first in relatively good
conditions. The Golf Club were deadly with the ball early, restricting the
Buffaloes to 60 off the first 30 overs.

But
things turned sour for the Golf Club, with Bowning’s lower-order players
smashing 83 off the last 15.

“It
was a disappointing end to the innings there,” Golf Club captain Robert Field
said.

“We
were playing really well, and then we had a bit of a lapse and they were
suddenly on top.”

Bowning
completed its innings on 143, and all of a sudden had something to defend.
Andrew Swaffield starred for Bowning notching up 43. Dave Brown proved a thorn
in their side, however, taking three scalps for the Golf Club.

Despite
looking good on paper, 143 was never going to be enough for Bowning to defend.
It took 42 overs to get there, but the result was never in doubt, as the
Piranhas lost just three wickets. Adrian Waters scored 52, and Robert Field got
40, before Daniel Poidevin continued his hot streak smashing 25 not out.

“We
are batting really well,” Field told the Tribune.

“It’s
just the bowling and fielding that we have to worry about. We are having
trouble bowling teams out and taking our catches. Last season that was never a
problem. We have to address that.”

The
match between the Soldiers Club and the Pirates was scheduled for O’Connor
Park, but the water-bombing choppers made that impossible and the game was
moved to Bowning Oval.

While
the Pirates have showed glimpses of form this year, that wasn’t on show at the
weekend. They won the toss and batted in perfectly fine conditions but managed
just 93 runs. Only Alex Waters, 26, and Nick Pollack, 17, got starts.

Steve
Okkonen and captain David Field both got three wickets and made it tough for
the Pirates to get a roll on.

In
response the Snipers needed just 16 overs to chase down the small total. Chris
Rawlinson and David Field both fired, making 53 not out and 39 respectively.

Brad
Wylie said it was easily the Pirates worst performance of its 2012/2013 season.

“It
was definitely our worst game of the year, we played really badly,” he told the
Tribune.

On
Saturday the Golf Club play the Snipers at Victoria Park in a top-of-the-table
match-up, and the Pirates come up against Bowning in Bowning.

The
Sweeney Cup teams had a competition bye at the weekend but they will all be
back in action come Saturday.